Published: Tuesday, October 29, 2013 at 08:47 PM.

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GASTONIA – Grier Middle School football coach Tyson Graham said last week after winning in the Gaston County Conference semifinals that his team was motivated by its lone loss of the year.

After watching the Knights roll to a 42-14 victory Tuesday night over Southwest to avenge that defeat to take the 2013 Gaston County Conference championship, everybody at the Hunter Huss High stadium that saw it would have to agree.

“That first game with them made these kids wake up and they’ve come in and played ball the last two ballgames,” Graham said of a 12-6 home regular-season loss to Southwest. “We had one goal all season long and the team came out tonight and made sure we got it done.”

The outcome made history for Grier (7-1), as the Knights become only the second team in the 40 years of the county championship game to win three straight titles.

Eighth-grader Dallas Danner was a standout on both sides of the football as Danner and Grier set county championship game records. Danner’s 26 points on four touchdowns and a two-point conversion and 213 yards rushing were individual records and the Knights’ 448 yards total offense and 411 yards rushing were team records.

“The offensive line went through some adversity this year with a lot of youth and some changes,” Graham said. “We started with four seventh-graders and an eight-grader and ended with three seventh-graders and two eighth-graders and I think those experiences really paid off for those kids tonight.”

In many ways, a two-play sequence early in the second quarter swung the game in the Knights direction and effectively ended Southwest’s hopes of an unbeaten season.

Trailing 6-0 with 6 1-2 minutes left in the opening half, a Southwest scoring opportunity ended with a fumble at the Grier 10 – and Danner ran 90 yards for a touchdown in the next play to make it 12-0 with 6:03 left in the opening half.

“That was huge for us,” said Graham, now 31-7 in five seasons as Grier head coach. “We have so much respect for Southwest and coach (Bryce) Powell and we know they have a fine football team.”

Southwest (7-1) had forced four turnovers in the regular season win, but on Tuesday, the Roadrunners lost two fumbles and had one pass intercepted.

GASTONIA – Grier Middle School football coach Tyson Graham said last week after winning in the Gaston County Conference semifinals that his team was motivated by its lone loss of the year.

After watching the Knights roll to a 42-14 victory Tuesday night over Southwest to avenge that defeat to take the 2013 Gaston County Conference championship, everybody at the Hunter Huss High stadium that saw it would have to agree.

“That first game with them made these kids wake up and they’ve come in and played ball the last two ballgames,” Graham said of a 12-6 home regular-season loss to Southwest. “We had one goal all season long and the team came out tonight and made sure we got it done.”

The outcome made history for Grier (7-1), as the Knights become only the second team in the 40 years of the county championship game to win three straight titles.

Eighth-grader Dallas Danner was a standout on both sides of the football as Danner and Grier set county championship game records. Danner’s 26 points on four touchdowns and a two-point conversion and 213 yards rushing were individual records and the Knights’ 448 yards total offense and 411 yards rushing were team records.

“The offensive line went through some adversity this year with a lot of youth and some changes,” Graham said. “We started with four seventh-graders and an eight-grader and ended with three seventh-graders and two eighth-graders and I think those experiences really paid off for those kids tonight.”

In many ways, a two-play sequence early in the second quarter swung the game in the Knights direction and effectively ended Southwest’s hopes of an unbeaten season.

Trailing 6-0 with 6 1-2 minutes left in the opening half, a Southwest scoring opportunity ended with a fumble at the Grier 10 – and Danner ran 90 yards for a touchdown in the next play to make it 12-0 with 6:03 left in the opening half.

“That was huge for us,” said Graham, now 31-7 in five seasons as Grier head coach. “We have so much respect for Southwest and coach (Bryce) Powell and we know they have a fine football team.”

Southwest (7-1) had forced four turnovers in the regular season win, but on Tuesday, the Roadrunners lost two fumbles and had one pass intercepted.